Eastman E3ooss, seems a China only model ?

[GraemeN]

Just thought i'd bring to people's attention this Eastman E3ooss, as I've never seen any mention of it on any English language review or sales site. But it exists on the Chinese domestic market. I've played one at a guitar shop in Beijing that deals in Eastman, and you can find them on the Chinese language equivalents of Ebay. Ive seen it go for 450 to 600 USD equivalent, though I'd imagine it is ever sold overseas it would be quite a bit more after you add import tax and shipping.

This guy here demos it quite well. There are a lot more reviews on Bilibili, which is a sort of "Chinese YouTube", but its probably as slow to load outside China as YouTube is inside China...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D2txyVYa1TY

Bilibili: https://b23.tv/qZg4sM8

It seems completely unrelated to the E3De and E3OM moddls, which are sitka/ovangkol. This one is Engelmann spruce top and flame maple back and sides. Its the same dimensions as their other OOSS models from what I gather. A bit confusing, and no idea why they'd randomly put out a model under the E3 tag thats got completely different woods, unless its more a case of it being in the E3 price ballpark (which it is) ?

I see they've now introduced an E16ss with maple back/sides too, and there's also another one E10ss LTD which has maple back/sides, completely unlike the regular mahogany backed E10ss. Possibly these are limited runs for the domestic market to test the market for the E16ss, which seems to have been launched as an overseas model. Anyone know ?

Anyway, just thought I'd draw it to people's attention. Its a nice sound, maybe a bit sweet for my own taste having both a small body AND maple, but would suit jazz or light fingerpicking folk I think.

[Johnny_lzl]

I played one yesterday, it didn't sound good to me. I was also playing an e20om-mr-tc, e20om-tc and 000-16 streetmaster side by side. The Martin sounded the best and winned in every aspects in my opinion.

Maybe off-topic:
Here in China, people don't really like Eastman. I was told by the dealer that Eastman has different production lines and quality control standards for China market and western market. And the price in China is a lot lower, the listing price is similar but a 20% discount is always offered and you can get up to 30% .

[GraemeN]

I thought it was a good guitar when I played it, but I also didn't buy it. Like I said the combination of small body with the treble, and the maple smoothness, it just made it a bit too sweet. If i were fingerpicking light ballads or cafe jazz, or had a sweet female voice to accompany it, it might suit much better. I could see why they only seem to have sold it in China, because it seems that market is bigger here ?

What you say about Chinese people not liking Eastmans... yeah I've had a shop owner in Beijing tell me they are rubbish, and I should buy a Martin. He was also an official importer and dealer of Martins, but I could tell he believed it too.

About Eastman not having the same quality control for the domestic market in China, its disappointing if true, and you'd think it would undermine the brand considering some must leave China and reach the used market outside China. But I imagine like many factories in China they struggle to stop factory seconds from leaving by the backdoor and getting resold locally as new. You see the same with Epiphone, Yamaha, Guild made here. Guitars on sale that look new but are half the price. Theyre not fakes, but must be factory seconds.

I guess it means as a buyer you need to play before you buy whenever possible, especially if used, and accept the risk buying anything online thats not from the brands official online store. I know I bought a different Eastman model new from a music shop in Beijing after playing it, and it sounds really good, no flaws or issues at all, and much better than any Martin at that price. So there are definitely good Eastman copies in China too.

[Johnny_lzl]

Originally Posted by GraemeN

because it seems that market is bigger here ?

I don't think small guitars are popular here. From all the local forums or comments of bilibili, people tend to like rosewood Dreadnought. Although Eastman is made in China and was founded by a Chinese, it is advertising itself as a U.S. company. So we don't have a lot of information either.

I am sorry for hijacking the thread.
I am not sure about the backdoor thing, the guitars I was offered with a 30% discount were from a big dealer with a warranty. But I did hear people say that the serial number will be wiped out if the guitar is sold too cheap, in this case, Eastman is not able to track the dealer. As far as I know from local forums, the reason for such a big discount is that the price to the dealer is so low (nearly 50%). In other words, even with a 30% discount, the dealers can still make a 20% profit. But that's just a rumor, I don't actually care as long as the guitars sound good and play well.

The reason I didn't like the sound of Eastman could be I was too used to Martins, or Sitka. And I didn't like J-45 as well when compared with D-18.
I also hope they are not having different QC standards, which was why I went to try the guitars. Despite the sound, the workmanship looked good to me. And now I am leaning toward an e20om again because the spec in such a low price is so tempting.
I would like to include a factory tour video here, which looks organized and persuading to me.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1tv...card.all.click

[GraemeN]

I suppose its like any brand, some models will get a certain following and others wont. The Eastman E10ss and E20ss seem to have a good reputation, but they are already older models, ten or more years old. Other models will join I'm sure, but they're competing against a Martin D-28 or Gibson J-45 with decades of history of famous musicians using them...

My concern if I were Eastman is they're going to be trapped by economic forces before they have time to build that legacy, if Beijing rent and wages keep rising at current rates, unless they can also sell at premium prices like Martin and Gibson do. Or like Yamaha with the new 4000 dollar "Made in Japan" model. Because from a marketing point of view "Handcrafted in Beijing" still doesn't have the same prestige as "Made in USA", not among foreign consumers, not among Chinese either, so there's going to be an upper limit on what Eastman can sell their guitars for. I think Eastman have already moved production of their budget laminated guitars to a factory in Tianjin where it would be about 50% cheaper I guess. Maybe thats also partly why they bought a big stake in Bourgeois, so they can handbuild their premium models in Canada and bump the prices up to Martin/Gibson levels ?

[Johnny_lzl]

I am with you. I think it was a good move for Eastman about the collaboration with Bourgeois. More and more models are refreshed with the Bourgeois techniques, which is great for us as consumers.